Congress targets govt over note ban

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that the demonetisation carried out by the Narendra Modi government was the “biggest scam in Independent India” to convert black money into white and the maximum deposits in cooperative banks in just five days were in BJP-ruled states, mainly Gujarat.

In a press conference, the Congress said that RTI queries had revealed that Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, whose directors include BJP chief Amit Shah, received the highest amount of old demonetised notes of Rs 745.58 crore in just five days.

Hitting out at Mr Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Congra-tulations Amit Shahji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist. Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning first prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. Rs 750 crore in five days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by demonetisation, salute your achievement. #ShahZyadaKhaGaya.”

Taking on the BJP, the Congress demanded a full-fledged probe into demonetisation. “Nineteen months post ‘Modi made disaster’ of demonetisation, it is now officially clear that this entire exercise was the biggest scam in independent India, indulged to convert its ill-gotten ‘black money’ into ‘white’,” Congress communications chief Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

The Congress in their press release also pointed out, sequentially, the list of co-operative banks which received some of the highest amounts in demonetised notes in the five days following November 8, 2016, and then named members on the boards of the banks who were BJP leaders or had ties to the BJP.

The Congress also released the RTI that filed with NABARD by one activist Mr. Niranjan S Roy.